Almost everyone practices secret consumer behaviors at one time or another, consuming things/paying for services that they keep secret from those close to them; the guilt leads to greater relationship investment

Secret consumer behaviors in close relationships. Danielle J. Brick, Kelley Gullo Wight, Gavan J. Fitzsimons. Journal of Consumer Psychology, June 30 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcpy.1315

Abstract: Although close relationships are often characterized by openness and disclosure, in the present research, we propose that there are times when individuals choose not to tell close others about their consumer behavior, keeping it a secret. For example, one partner may eat a candy bar on the way home from work, hide a package that was delivered to the house, or hire a cleaning service and not tell the other partner. We theorize that this type of consumer behavior is both common and mundane. That is, the consumption itself is minor—and has likely been done with the partner's knowledge in the past—but is being intentionally kept from the partner. We further investigate whether such behavior has downstream effects on the relationship, despite its mundaneness. Five studies support our conceptualization of secret consumer behaviors in close relationships and illustrate one consequence: guilt from secret consumption leads to greater relationship investment. This research explores a common, yet understudied, area of consumer behavior and highlights areas for future research. Thus, we contribute to the literature by being the first work to examine emotional, behavioral, and relational aspects of secret consumer behavior.

General Discussion

People commonly keep consumption a secret from close others. It tends to be mundane consumer behavior, but due to the nature of secrecy (i.e., intentional nondisclosure), it can have consequences for the relationship. By investigating the nature of secret consumer behaviors in relationships and examining emotional, behavioral, and relational outcomes, this research contributes to the literatures on close relationships (e.g., Brick & Fitzsimons, 2017; Caprariello & Reis, 2011; Finkel et al., 2015; Wight et al., 2022), social influences (e.g., Argo, 2020; Dzhogleva & Lamberton, 2014; McFerran et al., 2010; Ordabayeva & Chandon, 2011; Wood & Hayes, 2012), and secrecy in consumption (e.g., He et al., 2021; Rodas & John, 2020). This research also opens the door for future research to examine many more questions regarding the antecedents, methods, and consequences of secret consumer behavior (SCB) in close relationships. In the present research, we were agnostic as to why people keep SCBs, but future research should investigate relational motivations of SCBs. For example, one reason why an individual could choose to keep a SCB from a close other is to avoid a fight (e.g., secretly buying a shirt to avoid fighting about spending money). Another reason could be to help their partner (e.g., secretly eating candy in order to help their partner stick to their diet). In the shirt example, the person is keeping the secret for prevention reasons, and, in the candy example, the person is keeping the secret for promotion reasons (e.g., Regulatory Focus Theory; Higgins, 1998). Similarly, while we find that most people engage in SCB in close relationships, future research could examine antecedents to the tendency to do so. For example, consumers with a high need for independence may be more likely to engage in SCB, since it could give a sense of autonomy within an otherwise interconnected relationship. Another possibility is that attachment styles within a given relationship (Bowlby, 1982) affect the propensity to engage in SCB within that relationship. Those with a secure attachment to their relationship may ironically be more likely to keep SCBs as they may feel more confident that it would not threaten the relationship. In line with prior relational work (e.g., Slepian et al. 2017), we focused on the intent to conceal and were agnostic about the way in which the secret was kept. However, there are multiple ways in which individuals may keep a secret (e.g., omission, avoidance, lying; Thomas & Jewell, 2019). Future research could explore whether there are differences in relational outcomes depending upon the method for keeping the secret (e.g., lying may make the same SCB seem more severe than if it were kept via omission). Relatedly, we focused on relatively mundane consumer behaviors, but it is possible that some SCBs are more severe. In such cases, their relational outcomes may reflect the negative outcomes of the more severe general secrets that are typically studied in social psychology. While we do not find evidence of this in the current research (all interactions with how big of a deal the SCB is on both guilt and relationship investment are non-significant, p’s > .18), future research seems warranted. 

Additionally, while we focus on the effects of keeping SCBs (as opposed to disclosure), future research on confession seems warranted. Prior work has shown that confessing selfcontrol failures can affect subsequent self-control (Lowe & Haws, 2019); might confessing SCBs increase feelings of visibility and therefore decrease future secrecy? Could it bring people closer together? This reasoning opens questions about the potential relational effects of confessing SCBs depending upon to whom the secret is confessed: targets or non-targets. Future research could also examine other relational outcomes of SCB, such as relationship satisfaction or interpersonal goal pursuit. Individuals must navigate both inter- and intra-partner goals within close relationships, and sometimes the goals may not be aligned. For example, perhaps Partner A has a goal to lose weight, while Partner B does not. Would it be better for their relationship satisfaction, and perhaps for Partner A’s goal pursuit, if Partner B consumes pizza in secret? Research on invisible support (Bolger et al., 2000) suggests that it might, but future research should explore these questions. Finally, future research could explore other consequences for the partner from whom the SCB is kept. In a dyadic study of romantic partners’ spending on and satisfaction with Valentine’s Day, we found secret consumption can have positive downstream outcomes for the partner. Specifically, we found that Partner A’s guilt from engaging in SCB was associated with greater spending on Valentine’s Day for Partner B, and this, in turn, increased Partner B’s satisfaction with how Valentine’s Day went (see MDA for more information on this study). This provides initial evidence that SCB could have positive downstream consequences for the partner, but future research should explore this finding in more detail. In conclusion, the current work identifies secret consumer behavior as a common, but understudied, phenomenon in close relationships and demonstrates consequences of this behavior. We hope the current work will inspire researchers to pursue additional questions in this exciting area

Two decades of infidelity research through an intersectional lens -- Complaints of the intersectionists for not being able to analyze the subjects with a lens that includes "systems of" heterosexism, cissexism, classism in the many studies that lack enough data

“I’ve been cheated, been mistreated, when will I be loved”: Two decades of infidelity research through an intersectional lens. Dana A Weiser et al. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, July 6, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075221113032

Abstract: Infidelity is a common experience within romantic relationships and is closely linked with relationship dissolution and well-being. Using an intersectionality theoretical framework, we undertook a systematic review of the infidelity literature in flagship journals associated with the disciplines of the International Association for Relationship Research. Our review includes findings from 162 published empirical articles. We identified several themes within the infidelity literature, including: individual, interpersonal, and contextual predictors; outcomes and reactions; beliefs and attitudes; prevalence; and conceptualization. We also found that the infidelity literature primarily utilizes participants who are White, heterosexual, cisgender individuals who reside in the United States or Canada. Moreover, researchers were limited in information they provided about participants’ identities so in most articles it was difficult to assess many dimensions of identity. Ultimately, these findings limit our ability to apply an intersectional framework. We argue that researchers should extend the research they cite, collect richer demographic data, expand their samples (especially beyond White heterosexual cisgender American college students), and consider the sociohistorical context of their participants (e.g., the particular social circumstances and historical forces which shape individuals’ lived experiences). For example, scholars using an intersectional framework would explain their participants’ relationship experiences through a lens which includes systems of sexism, racism, heterosexism, cissexism, classism, etc., in conjunction with individual and interpersonal factors.

Keywords: Deception, infidelity, jealousy, sexuality

Recent evidence challenges long-standing views of male–female power relationships by showing that power ranges along a continuum from strictly male- to strictly female-dominated animal societies

The eco-evolutionary landscape of power relationships between males and females. Eve Davidian et al. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Volume 37, Issue 8, August 2022, Pages 706-718. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2022.04.004

Highlights

Inequality in the degree of control (or ‘power’) that members of one sex exert over members of the other sex is a pervasive characteristic of mammalian societies, including our own.

The study of the drivers of male–female power relationships has been impeded by methodological limitations and a lack of conceptual embedding in theories of sexual conflict, sexual selection and social evolution.

Recent evidence challenges long-standing views by showing that (i) power ranges along a continuum from strictly male- to strictly female-dominated animal societies and (ii) intersexual power relationships are not fixed attributes of species.

Here we break with dichotomist and static approaches to adopt a dynamic, theory-driven framework that provides a better understanding of the power struggles between the sexes, and how these relate to the social and mating system of a species.

Abstract: In animal societies, control over resources and reproduction is often biased towards one sex. Yet, the ecological and evolutionary underpinnings of male–female power asymmetries remain poorly understood. We outline a comprehensive framework to quantify and predict the dynamics of male–female power relationships within and across mammalian species. We show that male–female power relationships are more nuanced and flexible than previously acknowledged. We then propose that enhanced reproductive control over when and with whom to mate predicts social empowerment across ecological and evolutionary contexts. The framework explains distinct pathways to sex-biased power: coercion and male-biased dimorphism constitute a co-evolutionary highway to male power, whereas female power emerges through multiple physiological, morphological, behavioural, and socioecological pathways.

Keywords: intersexual power inequalitysexual conflictsocial dominancesexual size dimorphismreproductive controlsocial evolution

Belief in Luck and Precognition Around the World

Belief in Luck and Precognition Around the World. Emily A. Harris, Taciano L. Milfont, Matthew J. Hornsey. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, July 14, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221221110462

Abstract: Although magical beliefs (such as belief in luck and precognition) are presumably universal, the extent to which such beliefs are embraced likely varies across cultures. We assessed the effect of culture on luck and precognition beliefs in two large-scale multinational studies (Study 1: k = 16, N = 17,664; Study 2: k = 25, N = 4,024). Over and above the effects of demographic factors, culture was a significant predictor of luck and precognition beliefs in both studies. Indeed, when culture was added to demographic models, the variance accounted for in luck and precognition beliefs approximately doubled. Belief in luck and precognition was highest in Latvia and Russia (Study 1) and South Asia (Study 2), and lowest in Protestant Europe (Studies 1 and 2). Thus, beyond the effects of age, gender, education, and religiosity, culture is a significant factor in explaining variance in people’s belief in luck and precognition. Follow-up analyses found a relatively consistent effect of socio-economic development, such that belief in luck and precognition were more prevalent in countries with lower scores on the Human Development Index. There was also some evidence that these beliefs were stronger in more collectivist cultures, but this effect was inconsistent. We discuss the possibility that there are culturally specific historical factors that contribute to relative openness to such beliefs in Russia, Latvia, and South Asia.

Keywords: magical beliefs, luck, precognition, cross-cultural, multi-national

h/t: Tyler Cowen Belief in Luck and Precognition Around the World - Marginal REVOLUTION

Conflicts and son preference: Micro-level evidence from 58 countries show that both incidence and intensity of conflict exposure are associated with greater son preference leading to higher prevalence of sons over daughter

Conflicts and son preference: Micro-level evidence from 58 countries. SrinivasGoliad et al. Economics & Human Biology, Volume 46, August 2022, 101146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2022.101146

Highlights

• This article tests the association between conflict and son preference using a sample of 1.1 million individuals from 58 countries over the period 2003–2018.

• We show that both incidence and intensity of conflict exposure are associated with greater son preference leading to higher prevalence of sons over daughters.

• Macro-data analysis shows that history of conflict exposure plays an important role in explaining the cross-country differences in sex ratios.

Abstract: Research on the association between armed conflict and son preference has largely been based on single-country studies, often presenting descriptive patterns. This paper empirically analyzes the association between conflict and son preference using a sample of more than 1.1 million individuals from 58 countries over the period 2003–2018. We empirically show that both the incidence and intensity of conflict exposure are associated with greater son preference. Moreover, conflict-exposed individuals are likely to realise their preference for sons, as reflected in the systematically higher prevalence of sons over daughters among these individuals. To explore the aggregate effects of these findings, we conduct a cross-country analysis of sex ratios and show that history of conflict exposure plays an important role in explaining the cross-country differences in sex ratios.

Keywords: ConflictSon preferenceSex ratio at birthSex ratio at last birthChild sex ratios

Receiving mate poaching attempts decreased the appeal of current partners while increasing the desirability of alternatives

Temptation at your door: Receiving mate poaching attempts and perceived Partners' desirability. Gurit E. Birnbaum. Personal Relationships, July 12 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12433

Abstract: Committed individuals cope with the threat of alternative partners by using strategies that undermine their allure. However, in an era, in which alternative mates lurk around every corner, these strategies may lose their effectiveness. Two studies investigated this possibility, examining how being the target of online mate poaching influenced perceptions of current and alternative partners. In both studies, partnered undergraduate students chatted online with a confederate of the other sex who behaved either flirtatiously or neutrally. Then, participants completed a measure of implicit perception of their partner (Study 1) or described a sexual fantasy (Study 2). The fantasies were coded for expressions of desire for current and alternative partners. Results showed that receiving mate poaching attempts decreased the appeal of current partners while increasing the desirability of alternatives. These findings demonstrate the circumstances that weaken resistance to temptations, pointing to a route by which online interactions may impair relationship functioning.

6 GENERAL DISCUSSION

With offspring dependence on biparental caregiving, both men and women evolved to form long-term pair bonds (Eastwick, 2009 Fletcher et al., 2015) that are commonly intended to be monogamous (Anderson, 2010 Conley et al., 2013). The hegemony of monogamy, however, cannot carry the promise of fidelity. The growing demand for applications that facilitate extradyadic affairs (Finkel et al., 2012 Vossler, 2016) indeed demonstrates that sex is often sought outside of what is considered a committed relationship (e.g., Allen et al., 2005 Blow & Hartnett, 2005). Whereas most prior studies have focused on partner and relationship factors that make both online and offline infidelity more likely (see Fincham & May, 2017; Vossler, 2016, for reviews), the present research turns the spotlight on the characteristics of the alternatives that lessen people's ability to resist their allure.

Two studies show that receiving online mate poaching attempts from attractive poachers (versus engaging in a neutral interaction with them) can render romantically involved individuals more vulnerable to infidelity. Study 1 indicated that being the target of mate poaching led participants to view their current partners in a more negative light and to desire them less, as expressed both implicitly and explicitly. Study 2 replicated these findings and extended them, revealing that being the target of mate poaching not only decreased the appeal of current partners but also increased the desirability of alternative mates. Study 2 also spoke to the process by which active mate poaching attempts might weaken partnered individuals' motivation to defend their current relationship. Specifically, being actively courted by attractive mate poachers apparently interfered with the strategy of devaluation of attractive alternatives, which, in turn, further unleased extradyadic desires, at least as manifested in sexual fantasies.

The internet presents endless opportunities for personal and interpersonal growth, such as connecting people all over the globe and improving access to education. However, with these opportunities come challenges that may impair personal and relationship well-being, such as coping with addiction and distraction. The present research demonstrates the destructive potential of the internet for relationship functioning, showing how temptations in the interpersonal domain jeopardize existing romantic relationships. Past studies have already found that spending time on social media may harm existing relationships, as it offers an easy route to behaviors that often lead to jealousy, dissatisfaction, and even breakups (e.g., communicating with alternative partners and engaging in cybersex; Clayton et al., 2013; McDaniel et al., 2017). The present research adds to these studies by focusing on what it is that makes alternative partners difficult to resist, indicating that good looks in and of itself may not encourage infidelity. Rather, active courting attempts are required in order to penetrate through the shield of relationship maintenance strategies and undermine partnered individuals' ability to resist the allure of alternative mates.

Overall, the present research firms up a causal connection between receiving mate poaching attempts and experiencing extradyadic desires, shedding light on when and how interacting online with attractive strangers provides the extra push needed to pursue short-term pleasures rather than the long-term goal of relationship maintenance. And yet, the present results should be interpreted with a degree of caution as overt behavioral expressions of desire, such as engagement in offline involvement, were not assessed. It is therefore unclear whether the effect of receiving mate poaching attempts on the desire for current and alternative partners would translate into actual behavior. To be sure, partnered individuals who interact online with strangers and fantasize about them do not necessarily wish to act out their fantasies, either because it is too risky (e.g., Critelli & Bivona, 2008) or because fantasizing is rewarding in and of itself (Birnbaum, Kanat-Maymon, et al., 2019).

Another limitation of the present research is that it involved brief interactions in an artificial laboratory setting. Thus, it is unclear whether the effect of mate poaching on extradyadic desires would apply in complex natural settings, which make the potential costs of infidelity more difficult to handle. Furthermore, although Study 2 indicates the process by which mate poaching influences the desire for alternatives, it cannot tell whether mate poaching renders poachers more desirable because they seem bold or because targets of poaching like those who make them feel valued. It would be therefore revealing to explore whether the effect of mate poaching on the desirability of the poacher would be observed when an unattractive (rather than an attractive) poacher flirts with participants, possibly making them feel less valued, compared to a condition in which participants receive mate poaching attempts from an attractive poacher. On the whole, more research is needed to explore the long-term outcomes of online mate poaching in more natural settings, examining whether and why it is effective in motivating the targets to form relationships with poachers in the real world.

Notwithstanding these caveats, the present research demonstrates the circumstances that weaken resistance to temptations of alternative partners, pointing to a route by which online interactions may diminish relationship well-being and lead to offline affairs. In doing so, the findings underscore the need to identify couples who are especially susceptible to temptations of attractive alternatives so that they may receive appropriate counseling. Such counseling should focus on the enhancement of appetitive processes, which have proven effective in instigating sexual desire between partners and helping them prioritize the goal of relationship maintenance (e.g., provision of responsiveness and making one's partner feel special; Birnbaum, 2018; Birnbaum et al., 2016, 2021).

Psychopathic traits (primarily those linked to meanness and disinhibition) were associated with improved psychiatric functioning and fewer posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms

Batastini, A. B., Lester, M. E., Poindexter, E., & Bozeman, A. R. (2022). Trauma, psychopathic traits, and mental health outcomes: A propensity score matching approach between service member and civilian samples. Traumatology, Jul 2022. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000396

Abstract: A large body of research has been dedicated to examining the antecedents, determinants, and consequences of trauma exposure, particular among those who have served in the U.S. armed forces. Emerging research suggests that psychopathic traits may play a protective role. Yet, no known studies have examined the relationships between trauma exposure, components of psychopathy, posttraumatic symptoms, general mental health, and suicidal ideation. In addition, few studies directly compare military- and nonmilitary-experienced participants. Using propensity score matching, 114 participants (57 military and 57 civilian) were statistically matched based on age, race, and gender. Reported trauma exposure was associated with poorer general psychiatric functioning and increased posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms but was unrelated to historical suicidal ideation. Conversely, psychopathic traits were associated with improved psychiatric functioning and fewer posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms; however, certain facets of psychopathy (primarily those associated with meanness and disinhibition) were the most protective. Military status did not enhance the relationships between trauma exposure and adverse outcomes. Clinical implications, study limitations, and research initiatives aimed at better understanding the nuances of trauma-related responses and mental health are discussed. Identifying which risk and protective factors are unique (or not) to service members can inform the need for tailored interventions.

In contrast to young children, monkeys are unable to perceive illusory faces in inanimate objects

Flessert, M., Taubert, J., & Beran, M. J. (2022). Assessing the perception of face pareidolia in children (Homo sapiens), rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), and capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella). Journal of Comparative Psychology, Jul 2022. https://doi.org/10.1037/com0000320

Abstract: Face pareidolia is the misperception of a face in an inanimate object and is a common feature of the face detection system in humans. Whereas there are many similarities in how humans and nonhuman animals such as monkeys perceive and respond to faces, it is still unclear whether other species also perceive certain nonface stimuli as faces. We presented a novel computerized task to capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella), rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), and preschool-aged children (Homo sapiens). This task trained subjects to choose faces over nonface images, and then presented pareidolia images with nonface images. All species selected faces most often on trials that included face images. However, only children selected pareidolia images at levels above chance. These results indicate that while children report perceiving face pareidolia, monkeys do not. These species differences could be due to human-unique experiences that result in an increased aptitude for anthropomorphizing objects with face-like patterns. It could also be due to monkeys showing a greater reliance on stimulus features rather than global, holistically organized cues that faces provide. 

Quantitative Political Science Research is Greatly Underpowered; most methodologists greatly overestimate the statistical power of political science research

Quantitative Political Science Research is Greatly Underpowered. Vincent Arel-Bundock et al. Jul 5 2022. https://osf.io/hsgkp

Abstract: We analyze the statistical power of political science research by collating over 16,000 hypothesis tests from about 2,000 articles. Even with generous assumptions, the median analysis has about 10% power, and only about 1 in 10 tests have at least 80% power to detect the consensus effects reported in the literature. There is also substantial heterogeneity in tests across research areas, with some being characterized by high-power but most having very low power. To contextualize our findings, we survey political methodologists to assess their expectations about power levels. Most methodologists greatly overestimate the statistical power of political science research.

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On average, political methodologists believe that 66% of studies have at least50% power, and 43% have at least 80% power. We demonstrate that these areoverly optimistic estimations. On average, experts overestimate the share ofstudies powered at the 50% level by 48 percentage points, and the share of studiespowered at the 80% level by 32 percentage points. Political science researchsuffers from low power and this problem is not sufficiently appreciated.

We, especially those in high quality relationships, respond positively to being outperformed by our romantic partner. Reasons: greater empathy; relationship as a source of self-affirmation; finding partner's success beneficial for oneself

Thai, Sabrina. 2022. “Comparing You, Me, and Us: Social Comparisons in the Context of Close Relationships.” PsyArXiv. July 14. doi:10.31234/osf.io/bycrw

Abstract: Social comparisons in the context of close relationships occur often in daily life. Yet, limited research has examined the various types of comparisons that can occur in relationships and the interpersonal consequences of these comparisons. I first describe the types of comparisons individuals can make in close relationships (between themselves and a close other, between their relationship and another, and between a close other and another person) and the interpersonal consequences of these comparisons. I then discuss how examining comparisons in close relationships leads to new ways of thinking about social comparisons: Comparisons have a greater reach than previously thought (dyadic and cumulative longitudinal effects of comparisons), they are more complex than simply comparing the self to others, and they influence relationship outcomes and reveal processes that have not yet been examined. These new insights and directions demonstrate how this intrapersonal process has important interpersonal consequences.

Face-to-face sex positions are more likely to stimulate the clitoris, especially when the woman is above

Coital positions and clitoral blood flow: A biomechanical and sonographic analysis. K. Lovie, A. Marashi. Sexologies, July 5 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sexol.2022.04.007

Summary

Objective: To create biomechanical models of five common coital positions, and evaluate the degree of contact and forces against the clitoris. To evaluate clitoral blood flow before and after engaging in these positions.

Methods: Biomechanical models were rendered of a male and female pelvis in the following coital positions: face-to-face/female above, sitting/face-to-face, face-to-face/male above (with and without pillow), and kneeling/rear entry. The thrusting force and gravitational force were estimated for the pelvis(es) providing the main forces. The areas of contact between the pelvises were identified and highlighted. Sonography of the clitoris was performed before and after a healthy volunteer couple engaged in each position, using a Philips Lumify™ ultrasound (Koninklijke Philips N.V., Amsterdam, Netherlands) with a L12-4 linear array transducer (4–12 MHz).

Results: The biomechanical models for each position, with the exception of kneeling/rear entry, reveal a large amount of contact with the clitoris. Clitoral blood flow increased after engaging in each position except for kneeling/rear entry. Positions in which the gravitational force of the thrusting partner was in the same direction of (and thereby augmenting) the thrusting force resulted in intense clitoral blood flow (face-to-face/female above, and face-to-face/male above). Augmenting the face-to-face/male above position with a pillow generated a component of the male pelvic gravitational force in the direction of the clitoris; this resulted in more blood flow to all components of the cavernous body.

Conclusion: From a biomechanical perspective, different coital positions vary in their potential to stimulate the clitoris. These positions lead to variable increases in clitoral blood flow, concordant with our biomechanical models.

Keywords: ClitorisBiomechanicsSexual positionsSonography

Caring for children makes people all over the world more conservative, and most of the association between age and social conservatism is accounted for by parenthood

Kerry, Nicholas, Damian Murray, Laith Al-Shawaf, Carlota Batres, Khandis Blake, Youngjae Cha, Zoran Pavlović, et al. 2022. “Parenthood and Parental Care Motives Are Associated with Increased Social Conservatism: Experimental and Cross-cultural Evidence.” PsyArXiv. July 13. doi:10.31234/osf.io/d3fg2

Abstract: Differences in attitudes on social issues such as abortion, immigration, and sex are hugely divisive, and understanding their origins is among the most important tasks facing human behavioural sciences. Despite the clear psychological importance of parenthood and the motivation to provide care for children, researchers have only recently begun investigating their influence on social and political attitudes. Because socially conservative values ostensibly prioritize safety, stability, and family values, we hypothesized that being more invested in parental care might make socially conservative policies more appealing. Studies 1 (pre-registered; n=376) and 2 (n=1,913) find novel evidence of conditional experimental effects of a parenthood prime, such that people who engaged strongly with a childcare manipulation showed an increase in social conservatism. Study 2 also finds evidence that this effect is mediated by increases in parental care motivation. Study 3 (n=2,610, novel data from 10 countries) and 4 (n=426,444, World Values Survey data) find evidence that both parenthood and parental care motivation are associated with increased social conservatism around the globe. Further, most of the positive association globally between age and social conservatism is accounted for by parenthood. These findings support the hypothesis that parenthood and parental care motivation increase social conservatism.

People intuitively prefer invisible-hand explanations of social phenomena over explanations that resort to intended goals

Jonušaitė, Izabelė, and Tomer D. Ullman. 2022. “The Invisible Hand as an Intuitive Sociological Explanation.” PsyArXiv. July 13. doi:10.31234/osf.io/p374w

Abstract: The invisible hand is a type of explanation, often used in the social sciences and economics. An invisible-hand explanation accounts for a state of affairs as the emergent outcome of individual actions, without the individuals intending the explained phenomenon. Invisible-hand explanations have been used in formal settings to account for a variety of phenomena, from segregation to traffic norms. But, they have not been studied cognitively and empirically as an intuitive explanation type. Here, we propose and show that people intuitively prefer invisible-hand explanations over intentional-design explanations. We first establish that given pairs of explanations are equally likely to cause a social phenomenon (equal likelihood ratio). We then show that in a paired hypothesis question, people prefer an invisible-hand to an intentional-design explanation (posterior odds favor invisible hand). Given this, we conclude that people have a prior preference for invisible-hand explanations. We additionally examine individual differences in this prior preference, showing a small-but-significant relationship between a preference for intentional-design explanations, and conspiratorial beliefs.

Philosophers have long debated whether moral virtue is necessary for happiness, or whether morality and happiness are incompatible. Yet, little empirical research addresses this fundamental question: Are moral people happier?

Sun, Jessie, Wen Wu, and Geoffrey Goodwin. 2022. “Moral People Tend to Be Happier.” PsyArXiv. July 13. doi:10.31234/osf.io/sd8t4

Abstract: Philosophers have long debated whether moral virtue is necessary for happiness, or whether morality and happiness are incompatible. Yet, little empirical research addresses this fundamental question: Are moral people happier? Here, we examined the association between reputation-based measures of moral character and self-reported well-being in the U.S. and China. Three studies suggest that those who are more moral in the eyes of close others (e.g., friends, family, romantic partners; Studies 1 and 3), coworkers (Study 2), and acquaintances (Study 3) generally experience a greater sense of subjective well-being and meaning in life. Together, these studies provide the most comprehensive evidence to date of a positive association between morality and well-being.

Discussion

In sum, the results of three studies provide evidence for a robust and general positive association between moral character and well-being. These studies represent the most comprehensive investigation to date of this longstanding question about the relation between two fundamental aspects of the good life. However, given the scope of the question and the complexity of conceptualizing and measuring morality, our investigation is far from the last word on whether moral people are happier. Although reputation-based measures of morality have substantial advantages over both self-report and behavioral measures, they have their own limitations.

First, by definition, reputation-based measures of moral character only allow us to draw conclusions about the wellbeing implications of being visibly (im)moral (26, 28). How significant a limitation this is depends on how successfully people can actually hide their immoral traits and behaviors from others. We suspect that while people may be able to conceal some specific immoral behaviors (29), it is a much harder task to permanently conceal one’s genuinely immoral character. If this is true, then reputation-based measures of moral character, particularly when drawn from multiple sources, are unlikely to be substantially distorted in this respect. 

A second potential limitation of reputation-based measures is that moral character judgments could be tainted by irrelevant information. For example, it is plausible that people might use how much they like a person as a heuristic for whether that person is morally good.

However, supplemental analyses suggested that the association between moral character and well-being tended to be robust even when accounting for how much the targets’ informants liked them (see Table S29). Moreover, given that experimental evidence suggests that positive moral character information causally increases perceivers’ overall positive impressions of a hypothetical target (13), the extent to which a perceiver likes a target could be a mechanism that explains why moral people are happier, rather than a confound. Due to the correlational nature of our study designs, the findings of all three studies are causally ambiguous. However, given the paucity of research on this important question, and the difficulty of manipulating morality, our primary goal was to provide a thorough description of the direction, functional form, and specificity of the association between morality and well- being. After all, before we can attempt to explain a phenomenon, it is important to “know the thing we are trying to explain” (30, 31).

Nevertheless, we conducted additional analyses to rule out possible demographic confounds (e.g., age, gender, race, SES, and religiosity). The results of Studies 1 and 2 were generally robust to the inclusion of these control variables, but the results for Study 3 were inconclusive due to the large amounts of missing demographic data (see Table 40 S31). Finally, the question of whether moral people are happier may depend in part on what range of morality is being considered and how morality is conceptualized. Although we made efforts to sample from across the spectrum of moral character, we were unable to sample targets who were either extremely moral or extremely immoral (see Supplemental Materials, Table 45 S28). Nonetheless, our results do indicate that within the normal range of moral functioning inhabited by the large majority of people, people who are more moral are happier than people who are less moral. 6 Morality is notoriously difficult to define; indeed, centuries of philosophical theorizing have not yet resulted in widespread convergence on what it means to be a moral person (32).

We intentionally conceptualized morality in a very broad and ecologically valid way, with a definition that spanned multiple different aspects of moral character that are relevant to everyday social life. It therefore remains possible that the relation we observed may not hold if moral goodness is conceptualized more narrowly (e.g., as constituted by utilitarian attitudes, or a more expansive moral circle; 33, 34). Our results provisionally speak against this possibility, however, since we did not see different relations between two major dimensions of morality (i.e., kindness and integrity) and well-being (see Supplemental Materials, Table S23). Nonetheless, future work might document more distinct connections between other varieties of morality and well-being. Despite these caveats, the research presented here breaks new ground by providing the strongest evidence to date of a positive association between morality and well-being in the U.S. and China. Our findings are incompatible with the idea that a moral life is characterized by onerous self-sacrifice; instead, morality and personal fulfilment seem to go hand in hand

The role of cognitive control differs across people: For cheaters, it helps them to sometimes be honest, while for those who are generally honest, it allows them to cheat on occasion to profit from small dishonesty

Cognitive control and dishonesty. Sebastian P.H. Speer, Ale Smidts, Maarten A.S. Boksem. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, July 13 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2022.06.005

Highlights

The precise role of cognitive control in dishonesty has been debated for many years, but now important strides have been made to resolve this debate.

Recently developed paradigms that allow for investigating dishonesty on the level of the choice rather than on the level of the individual have substantially improved our understanding of the adaptive role of cognitive control in (dis)honesty.

These new paradigms revealed that the role of cognitive control differs across people: for cheaters, it helps them to sometimes be honest, while for those who are generally honest, it allows them to cheat on occasion. Thus, cognitive control is not required for (dis)honesty per se but is required to override one’s moral default to be either honest or to cheat.

Individual differences in moral default are driven by balancing motivation for reward and upholding a moral self-image.

Abstract: Dishonesty is ubiquitous and imposes substantial financial and social burdens on society. Intuitively, dishonesty results from a failure of willpower to control selfish behavior. However, recent research suggests that the role of cognitive control in dishonesty is more complex. We review evidence that cognitive control is not needed to be honest or dishonest per se, but that it depends on individual differences in what we call one’s ‘moral default’: for those who are prone to dishonesty, cognitive control indeed aids in being honest, but for those who are already generally honest, cognitive control may help them cheat to occasionally profit from small acts of dishonesty. Thus, the role of cognitive control in (dis)honesty is to override the moral default.

Keywords: dishonestycognitive controlcheatingindividual differencesneuroimaging

We exhibit a reticence bias, the incorrect belief that we are more likable if we speak less than half the time in conversation with a stranger, & halo ignorance, the belief that our speaking time should depend on goals (to be liked vs. to be found interesting)

Speak Up! Mistaken Beliefs About How Much to Talk in Conversations. Quinn Hirschi, Timothy D. Wilson, Daniel T. Gilbert. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, July 11, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672221104927

Abstract: We hypothesized that people would exhibit a reticence bias, the incorrect belief that they will be more likable if they speak less than half the time in a conversation with a stranger, as well as halo ignorance, the belief that their speaking time should depend on their goal (e.g., to be liked vs. to be found interesting), when in fact, perceivers form global impressions of each other. In Studies 1 and 2, participants forecasted they should speak less than half the time when trying to be liked, but significantly more when trying to be interesting. In Study 3, we tested the accuracy of these forecasts by randomly assigning participants to speak for 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, or 70% of the time in a dyadic conversation. Contrary to people’s forecasts, they were more likable the more they spoke, and their partners formed global rather than differentiated impressions.

Keywords: conversation, meta-perception, social perception, interpersonal perception, affective forecasting

We are constantly comparing not only ourselves but also the persons in our social environment with others, and we make these comparisons in such a way that those close to us do well

Thai, Sabrina, and Penelope Lockwood. 2022. “Social-judgment Comparisons in Daily Life.” PsyArXiv. July 12. doi:10.31234/osf.io/83tze

Abstract: Comparison processes are critical to social judgments, yet little is known about how individuals compare people other than themselves in daily life (social-judgment comparisons). The present research employed a 7-day experience-sampling design (Nparticipants=93; Nsurveys=3960) with end-of-week and six-month follow-ups, to examine how individuals make social-judgment comparisons in daily life as well as the cumulative impact of these comparisons over time. Participants compared close (vs. distant) contacts more frequently and made more downward than upward comparisons. Furthermore, downward, relative to upward, comparisons predicted more positive perceptions of the contact, greater closeness to the contact, and greater relationship satisfaction. More frequent downward comparisons involving a particular contact also predicted greater closeness one week and six months later. When participants made upward comparisons, they were motivated to protect close, but not distant, contacts by downplaying domain importance, and engaging in this protective strategy predicted greater closeness to the contact one week later.

We document a robust underestimation of how much other people appreciate being reached out to

Liu, P. J., Rim, S., Min, L., & Min, K. E. (2022). The surprise of reaching out: Appreciated more than we think. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Jul 2022. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000402

Abstract: People are fundamentally social beings and enjoy connecting with others. Sometimes, people reach out to others—whether simply to check-in on how others are doing with brief messages or to show that they are thinking of others by sending small gifts to them. Yet, despite the importance and enjoyment of social connection, do people accurately understand how much other people value being reached out to by someone in their social circle? Across a series of preregistered experiments, we document a robust underestimation of how much other people appreciate being reached out to. We find evidence compatible with an account wherein one reason this underestimation of appreciation occurs is because responders (vs. initiators) are more focused on their feelings of surprise at being reached out to. A focus on feelings of surprise in turn predicts greater appreciation. We further identify process-consistent moderators of the underestimation of reach-out appreciation, finding that it is magnified when the reach-out context is more surprising: when it occurs within a surprising (vs. unsurprising) context for the recipient and when it occurs between more socially distant (vs. socially close) others. Altogether, this research thus identifies when and why we underestimate how much other people appreciate us reaching out to them, implicating a heightened focus on feelings of surprise as one underlying explanation.

Author's perspective

Reach out to those you've lost touch with – they will appreciate it more than you think

What is it about?

We wondered why people lose touch with each other and fail to reconnect by reaching out. We thought that one reason might be that people underestimate how much others appreciate their reach-outs. We conducted a series of experiments testing our prediction that people would underestimate how much others appreciate being reached out to. In some of our experiments, we approached people on college campuses and asked them to write a note to a classmate with whom they hadn't been in contact in awhile. We then asked them how much they thought their classmate would appreciate being reached out to. We then delivered this note to the person they reached out to and asked them how much they appreciated being reached out to. We also conducted similar experiments with non-student samples and with reach-outs consisting of small gifts, instead of just notes. We kept finding that people underestimated how much their reach-outs were appreciated. We also found that one reason this underestimation of appreciation occurs is that people do not think enough about how positively surprised others feel upon being reached out to. The role of surprise is important. We found that the one situation in which people do not underestimate how much others appreciate being reached out is when the reach-out occurs in an unsurprising context. For example, if someone is expecting you to reach-out to them, then you are pretty well calibrated to how much they will actually appreciate you reaching out to them. Thus, it's really these unexpected reach-outs that people appreciate much more than we expect.

Why is it important?

Many people have lost touch with others in their lives, whether it be friends from high school or college or co-workers they used to see at the water cooler before they went remote. Despite wanting to reconnect, many people are hesitant about doing so. This research suggests that their hesitations may be misplaced, as others are likely to appreciate being reached out to more than people think. Given that there is so much research suggesting that maintaining our social connections with others is beneficial for mental and physical health, we hope that that these findings will encourage more people to reach-out to those with whom they have lost touch.

Rough sex is most commonly associated with curiosity and a need for novelty, with only a small subset motivated by aggression

Rough Sex and Pornography Preferences: Novelty Seeking, Not Aggression. Rebecca L. Burch, Catherine Salmon. EvoS Journal. Jul 2022. https://evostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Burch-Salmon-2022-Vol12SpIss1.pdf

Research on sexual behavior often characterizes rough sex as sexual aggression and/or abuse. The same characterization exists for pornography and many links between these topics imply an escalation between pornography use, rough sex, and sexual violence. Among 734 male and female undergraduates, we examined relationships between rough sex, sexual violence, other sexual acts, and pornography use. Findings indicate that rough sex is most commonly associated with curiosity and a need for novelty, and that rough sex is associated with pornography consumption and other sexually adventurous behaviors, such as public sex and the use of sex toys. The relationship between rough sex and pornography appears to be rooted in a need for sexual novelty, with only a small subset motivated by aggression.

Keywords: Pornography, Rough Sex, Aggression, Sexual Novelty

People who enter into a new romantic relationship often experience that they are desired by others more than they were before

16 - Shifts in Partner Attractiveness: Evolutionary and Social Factors. Chp 16 from Part III - Postcopulatory Adaptations. Rebecca L. Burch et al. The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Sexual Psychology, p 363-390. June 30 2022. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108943543.020

Summary: Researchers have spent decades investigating factors in attraction; biological variables, cultural norms, and social pressures have all had their time in the spotlight. Humans are complicated animals and each of these realms have shown measurable effects. However, evolutionary approaches provide a unifying theory that subsumes and explains each of these factors and how they interact to create intricate yet predictable patterns in human mating behavior. In this chapter, we give a brief summary of major factors influencing attractiveness as perceived by men, including biological factors such as age and ovulatory status but also social factors such as exposure to highly attractive, or simply novel, women. Understanding how attractiveness can vary over time and within relationships can be useful, not only to research but also in applied clinical fields such as couples’ and marital therapy.

Hormonal contraceptives as disruptors of competitive behavior

Hormonal contraceptives as disruptors of competitive behavior: Theoretical framing and review. Lindsie C.Arthur, Kathleen V. Casto, Khandis R. Blake. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, July 11 2022, 101015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yfrne.2022.101015

Abstract: Emerging evidence suggests that hormonal contraceptives (HCs) impact psychological outcomes through alterations in neurophysiology. In this review, we first introduce a theoretical framework for HCs as disruptors of steroid hormone modulation of socially competitive attitudes and behaviors. Then, we comprehensively examine prior research comparing HC users and non-users in outcomes related to competition for reproductive, social, and financial resources. Synthesis of 46 studies (n = 16,290) led to several key conclusions: HC users do not show the same menstrual cycle-related fluctuations in self-perceived attractiveness and some intrasexual competition seen in naturally cycling women and, further, may show relatively reduced status- or achievement-oriented competitive motivation. However, there a lack of consistent or compelling evidence that HC users and non-users differ in competitive behavior or attitudes for mates or financial resources. These conclusions are tentative given the notable methodological limitations of the studies reviewed. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Introduction

Hormonal contraceptives (HCs), designed to prevent pregnancy, are one of the most widely used prescription medications among reproductive age women1 (United Nations, 2019). Although the specific type, formula, and resulting mechanism of action varies, common to all HCs is endocrine disruption due to the introduction of synthetic ovarian hormones into the bloodstream. Despite the prevalence of HC use worldwide and numerous positive impacts on women’s reproductive autonomy, emerging evidence suggests that there may be negative effects of HCs on psychological functioning including altered and potentially maladaptive emotion processing (Lewis et al., 2019, Pahnke et al., 2019, Pletzer and Kerschbaum, 2014). Compared with naturally-cycling2 (NC) women, HC users may exhibit significant alterations in neurophysiology, affecting both structure and function in numerous areas of the brain associated with cognition and emotion (Sharma et al., 2020; for review, Brønnick et al., 2020, Porcu et al., 2019). Behavioral researchers have also begun to uncover differences in adaptive social behaviors between HC users and NC women. Much of this research has focused on a set of outcomes under the broad category of competitiveness and competition, which are important for women’s personal and career-oriented social advancement.

The aims of this review are twofold: 1) to introduce a theoretical framework for understanding HC effects on competitive behavior and 2) to comprehensively examine prior research on the effect of HCs on social-behavioral outcomes related to competition. Not only is competing important for social advancement, but competing for access to limited resources is a fact of life: it is exhibited by all organisms in all ecosystems and drives both evolution and reproductive success (Casto and Mehta, 2019, Cheng et al., 2010, Clutton-Brock and Huchard, 2013, Stockley and Bro-Jørgensen, 2011). Individuals who out-compete their rivals are more likely to survive and successfully produce offspring who will then carry their genes into the next generation. It is only by competing—and competing successfully—that individuals can survive, reproduce, and flourish. Despite the importance of competitive behavior, it can be particularly difficult to properly evoke and measure in the laboratory. Attempts to do so often lack ecologically validity and are male-biased (Casto and Prasad, 2017, Williams and Tiedens, 2016).

Guided by the adaptive significance of competition and the constraints of the extant literature, we focus on research that has tested HC effects on two main categories of competitive behavior: competition for reproductive partners (mate selection, attraction, and retention) and competition for social and financial resources (money and social status). We begin with the theoretical framing for hormonal correlates of competitive behavior followed by a brief overview of how HCs affect hormone levels and patterns of exposure. We then review all available prior studies examining HC effects on competitive behavior separately for the two resource categories. We conclude by synthesizing the prior research, identifying methodological strengths and weaknesses, and highlighting avenues for future directions.

Myth or measurement: What does the new minimum wage research say about minimum wages and job loss in the United States?

Myth or measurement: What does the new minimum wage research say about minimum wages and job loss in the United States? David Neumark, Peter Shirley. Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, April 25 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/irel.12306

Abstract: The disagreement among studies on the employment effects of minimum wages in the United States is well known. Less well known, and more puzzling, is the absence of agreement on what the research literature says—that is, how economists summarize the body of evidence on the employment effects of minimum wages. Summaries range from “it is now well established that higher minimum wages do not reduce employment,” to “the evidence is very mixed with effects centered on zero so there is no basis for a strong conclusion one way or the other,” to “most evidence points to adverse employment effects.” We explore the question of what conclusions can be drawn from the literature, focusing on the evidence using subnational minimum wage variation within the United States that has dominated the research landscape since the early 1990s. To accomplish this, we assembled the entire set of published studies in this literature and identified the core estimates that support the conclusions from each study, in most cases relying on responses from the researchers who wrote these papers. Our key conclusions are as follows: (i) there is a clear preponderance of negative estimates in the literature; (ii) this evidence is stronger for teens and young adults and the less educated; (iii) the evidence from studies of directly affected workers points even more strongly to negative employment effects; and (iv) the evidence from studies of low-wage industries is less one-sided.

It’s Time to Streamline the Hiring Process. By Atta Tarki, Tyler Cowen, and Alexandra Ham

It’s Time to Streamline the Hiring Process. Atta Tarki, Tyler Cowen, and Alexandra Ham. Harvard Business Review, July 11, 2022. https://hbr.org/2022/07/its-time-to-streamline-the-hiring-process

Some recommendations:

Reduce the number of interviewers in your process. If you have more than four or five interviewers, chances are that the costs associated with the additional complexity in your process have exceeded the benefits they produce.

Be explicit about whose decision it is. Steer your organizational culture away from a consensus-oriented approach. Instead, for each role make it explicit whose decision it is, who else might have veto power, and that other interviewers should not be offended if a candidate is hired despite not getting their approval. And then keep repeating this message until most of your colleagues adapt to this new approach.

Ask interviewers to use numerical ratings when evaluating candidates. We’ve experienced that doing so helps hiring committees focus on the holistic view rather than on one-off negative comments. Having interviewers submit their ratings before getting input from their colleagues will have the further benefit of reducing the chance of groupthink in your evaluations.

Remove the “Dr. Deaths” from your hiring committee. Track which interviewers turn down the most candidates, and if they are not better at picking good hires, communicate with them that they will be removed from the hiring committee if they don’t correct their behavior.

Change your culture to reward those who spot great hires, not penalizing those who end up with an occasional poor performer. You can further do this by emphasizing the difference between good decisions and good outcomes. Sometimes a fully logical bet will result in a poor outcome. If needs be, call out those spreading negativism.

When the data-generating processes for scarce and ambiguous observations are complex and opaque, a naive observer can improve a bias-variance tradeoff by starting with a simple, underspecified explanation that can be seen as "supernatural"

Lightner, Aaron, and Edward H. Hagen. 2022. “All Models Are Wrong, and Some Are Religious: Supernatural Explanations as Abstract and Useful Falsehoods About Complex Realities.” PsyArXiv. July 11. doi:10.31234/osf.io/2uvjm

Abstract: Many cognitive and evolutionary theories of religion argue that supernatural explanations are byproducts of our cognitive adaptations. An influential argument states that our supernatural explanations result from a tendency to generate anthropomorphic explanations, and that this tendency is a byproduct of an error management strategy because agents tend to be associated with especially high fitness costs. We propose instead that anthropomorphic and other supernatural explanations result as features of a broader toolkit of well-designed cognitive adaptations, which are designed for explaining the abstract and causal structure of complex, unobservable, and uncertain phenomena that have substantial impacts on fitness. Specifically, we argue that (1) mental representations about the abstract vs. the supernatural are largely overlapping, if not identical, and (2) when the data-generating processes for scarce and ambiguous observations are complex and opaque, a naive observer can improve a bias-variance tradeoff by starting with a simple, underspecified explanation that Western observers readily interpret as "supernatural." We then argue that (3) in many cases, knowledge specialists across cultures offer pragmatic services that involve apparently supernatural explanations, and their clients are frequently willing to pay them in a market for useful and effective services. We propose that at least some ethnographic descriptions of religion might actually reflect ordinary and adaptive responses to novel problems such as illnesses and natural disasters, where knowledge specialists possess and apply the best available explanations about phenomena that would otherwise be completely mysterious and unpredictable.

Unionization increases firms’ costs and operating leverage and, consequently, crowds out investments that potentially impact quality; unions may compromise quality by hurting employee morale and by resisting technological upgrades in the firm

Labor Unions and Product Quality Failures. Omesh Kini, Mo Shen, Jaideep Shenoy, Venkat Subramaniam. Management Science, Aug 27 2021. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.4082

Abstract: In this paper, we study the impact of labor unions on product quality failures. We use a product recall as our measure of quality failure because it is an objective metric that is applicable to a broad cross-section of industries. Our analysis employs a union panel setting and close union elections in a regression discontinuity design framework to overcome identification issues. In the panel regressions, we find that firms that are unionized and those that have higher unionization rates experience a greater frequency of quality failures. The results obtain even at a more granular establishment level in a subsample in which we can identify the manufacturing establishment associated with the recalled product. When comparing firms in close elections, we find that firms with close union wins are followed by significantly worse product quality outcomes than those with close union losses. These results are amplified in non–right-to-work states, where unions have a relatively greater influence on the workforce. We find that unionization increases firms’ costs and operating leverage and, consequently, crowds out investments that potentially impact quality. We also find some suggestive evidence that unions may compromise quality by hurting employee morale and by resisting technological upgrades in the firm. Overall, our results suggest that unions have an adverse impact on product recalls, and thus, product quality is an important dimension along which unions impact businesses

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Comments by Alex Tabarrok Labor Unions Reduce Product Quality - Marginal REVOLUTION: Two strengths of the paper. First, the authors have relatively objective measures of product quality from thousands of product recalls mandated by the FDA, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration covering many different industries. Second the authors use 3 different methods. First, they find that unionized firms are more likely to have recalls than non-unionized firms (a simple difference in means subject to many potential cofounds but I still like to see the raw data), second they find that in a panel model with industry and year fixed effects and other controls that firms which are more unionized have a greater frequency of product recalls. Finally they find that firms where the union just barely won the vote are more likely to have subsequent product recalls than firms for which the union just barely lost the vote--a regression discontinuity study.

The authors put more weight on financial strains caused by unionization as a mechanism whereas my story would be that unionization prevents firms from disciplining shoddy workers and that leads to lower product quality. Note that my theory would also cover teachers unions which the author’s mechanism would not.

The erotic appeal of the human-typical face-to-face posture during sex may related to the fact that human faces have evolved to become more behind-like

From 2016... Kret ME, Tomonaga M (2016) Getting to the Bottom of Face Processing. Species-Specific Inversion Effects for Faces and Behinds in Humans and Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes). PLoS ONE 11(11): e0165357. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0165357

Abstract: For social species such as primates, the recognition of conspecifics is crucial for their survival. As demonstrated by the ‘face inversion effect’, humans are experts in recognizing faces and unlike objects, recognize their identity by processing it configurally. The human face, with its distinct features such as eye-whites, eyebrows, red lips and cheeks signals emotions, intentions, health and sexual attraction and, as we will show here, shares important features with the primate behind. Chimpanzee females show a swelling and reddening of the anogenital region around the time of ovulation. This provides an important socio-sexual signal for group members, who can identify individuals by their behinds. We hypothesized that chimpanzees process behinds configurally in a way humans process faces. In four different delayed matching-to-sample tasks with upright and inverted body parts, we show that humans demonstrate a face, but not a behind inversion effect and that chimpanzees show a behind, but no clear face inversion effect. The findings suggest an evolutionary shift in socio-sexual signalling function from behinds to faces, two hairless, symmetrical and attractive body parts, which might have attuned the human brain to process faces, and the human face to become more behind-like.

Discussion

The current study shows chimpanzee’s expertise in recognizing behinds and suggests they process the bright pink sex swellings of female chimpanzees configurally and in a similar way as humans process faces. The female chimpanzee’s behind has a very high socio-sexual signaling function and the changes in size and color over the menstrual cycle reflect fertility. For that reason, it is important for conspecifics to be able to quickly detect this signal in the environment, but at the same time, it is vital to know who the behind belongs to[19]. For male chimpanzees this is relevant to prevent inbreeding. In turn, for female chimpanzees it is relevant to be aware of competing females to protect their own mating success.

The current study replicates previous research on the face inversion effect in humans, demonstrating that they process faces configurally[2]. In line with our hypothesis, the face inversion effect was dampened when faces were turned into greyscale, but still strongly significant, which is in line with previous research in humans showing that orientation is more important than color when it comes to processing human faces[31]. Also without color, the human face contains many high contrasting features such as eye whites, a prominent nose and lips and eyebrows. Although facial color can provide important social information, such as about emotions and health, there are also minor alterations over the menstrual cycle [40]. However, these small changes are beyond any comparison with the rich coloration of the chimpanzee behind where the alterations are much more obvious. In chimpanzees, the relevance of color for processing behinds is reflected in the absence of the behind inversion effect when pictures of behinds were presented in greyscale. In real life, the size and color of the swelling change in synchrony over the menstrual cycle. Thus, a full swelling around estrus is always redder than the female behind half a cycle later. It is therefore possible that due to the un-naturalistic mismatch between color (grey) and size (full swelling), these behinds were processed as objects, i.e., identified by the parts rather than as a whole.

Like humans, great apes are optimally equipped to process color and the spectral sensitivity of the cones in their retinas is ideal for discriminating both density of hemoglobin and oxygen saturation of the blood[30]. Also, the brain areas specialized in processing faces and bodies possess unique neural wiring to effectively process color[32, 33]. Once developed over the course of evolution, color vision (and especially trichromatic color perception) proceeded to impose a selective pressure on certain external traits such as the pink female sexual swelling in chimpanzees and the red lips and cheeks in humans.

A limitation of this study is the low number of individuals in the chimpanzee sample. Although this is common in most primate research and is largely compensated for by the large number of trials per individual, it is possible that effects would have been stronger had we been able to test a larger sample. Moreover, the chimpanzees in our sample were adolescents and adults and we can therefore only speculate about whether this specialization in processing behinds is inborn or related to expertise and emerged sometime during the developmental trajectory. In humans, the specialization for faces occurs already in the first couple of months of life[41]. In fact, already from birth, infants are interested in other people’s faces and eyes and make eye-contact[42]. The making of eye-contact is also facilitated in our species as walking upright freed the hands of parents, allowing them to carry their babies in their arms more often[43]. In contrast, chimpanzees are knuckle-walkers and carry their infants on their belly or back. For them, the swellings become particularly relevant only around puberty. The swellings also appear around that time, i.e., around the age of 10, and at that age, the color of the face changes from pink to a permanent black tint, reducing the contrast with the rest of the body[20]. The swellings stand out enormously in terms of color, size, smoothness and shininess and have a much stronger socio-sexual signaling function in the chimpanzee than the face. Future experiments with larger sample sizes are needed to test for sex differences and could also benefit from including male behinds as a control condition. In addition, it might be valuable to repeat this experiment in the bonobo (Pan Paniscus), as this species is as closely related to us as the chimpanzee but uses sex as a way to prevent and solve conflicts, has an alpha female rather than an alpha male[44] and is known to be highly attentive towards pictures showing genitals and even pay more attention to this category than to images showing threat displays[45].

In sum, applying well-established psychological paradigms to our closest relatives represents a promising approach to providing insight into the evolution of behavior. For primates, being able to recognize each other is necessary for detecting mates. Yin’s(1969) landmark article about the ‘face inversion effect’ turned the face-literature upside-down and hundreds of articles since describe that humans process faces unlike objects. But how faces compare to another body part similar in shape, size, color and attractiveness was thus far unknown. The present study demonstrates that chimpanzees, unlike humans, show a ‘behind inversion effect’ and suggests that identity recognition ‘moved up’ from the bottom to the face in our uprightly walking species. The findings of our study suggest that over human evolution the face took over important properties shared with the primate behind and largely replaced its socio-sexual signaling function, making our species attuned to faces.

Sound induces analgesia through corticothalamic circuits

Sound induces analgesia through corticothalamic circuits. Wenjie Zhou et al. Science, Jul 7 2022, Vol 377, Issue 6602, pp. 198-204, DOI: 10.1126/science.abn4663

The pain-reducing effects of music: That sound can effectively suppress pain has been known for some time. However, it is still unclear what drives the analgetic effect induced by music or noise. Zhou et al. used a range of methods to demonstrate in mice that the auditory cortex is functionally connected to regions involved in nociception (see the Perspective by Kuner and Kuner). The neuronal circuits depend on the physical location of the pain. Whereas the analgetic effect of a 5-decibel signal-to-noise ratio white noise on the hindpaws involved projections from the auditory cortex to the posterior thalamic nuclei, on the forepaws, it involved projections from the auditory cortex to the ventral posterior nuclei. Distinct thalamic nuclei are thus involved in the processing of nociceptive information perceived at distinct physical locations. —PRS

Abstract: Sound—including music and noise—can relieve pain in humans, but the underlying neural mechanisms remain unknown. We discovered that analgesic effects of sound depended on a low (5-decibel) signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) relative to ambient noise in mice. Viral tracing, microendoscopic calcium imaging, and multitetrode recordings in freely moving mice showed that low-SNR sounds inhibited glutamatergic inputs from the auditory cortex (ACxGlu) to the thalamic posterior (PO) and ventral posterior (VP) nuclei. Optogenetic or chemogenetic inhibition of the ACxGlu→PO and ACxGlu→VP circuits mimicked the low-SNR sound–induced analgesia in inflamed hindpaws and forepaws, respectively. Artificial activation of these two circuits abolished the sound-induced analgesia. Our study reveals the corticothalamic circuits underlying sound-promoted analgesia by deciphering the role of the auditory system in pain processing.

Popular version: Soft sounds numb pain. Researchers may now know why. Experiments in mice show how sound tamps down on pain processing in the brain. Tess Joosse. Science News, Jul 7 2022. https://www.science.org/content/article/soft-sounds-numb-pain-researchers-may-now-know-why

In their sexual fantasies, women have sex with about one person a day, men with about two

Sexual Fantasies, from Part II - Copulatory Adaptations. Rui Miguel Costa. In The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Sexual Psychology, pp 209-240. Jun 30 2022. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108943567.011

Summary: Sexual fantasies refer to mental imagery of sexual activity with an emotional component that absorbs the fantasizer. These images are often sexually arousing and enjoyable, but they can elicit guilt and be unwanted and intrusive. Reported frequency of sexual fantasizing is subject to large individual differences. The present chapter reviews and discusses the role of motivational tendencies underlying sexual fantasies and the relationship between sexual functioning and sexual fantasies. Men report more frequent fantasies than women, but at least part of the difference is explained by greater frequency of masturbation accompanied by fantasies for men than women. Sexual desire does not require the experience of fantasies, but fantasy frequency is robustly related to sexual desire in the reproductive years. Tendency to experience sexual fantasies is related to imagery ability, in general, but the modest correlations suggest independent processes. Unlike sexual activity that requires compromise between partners’ desires, fantasies are unconstrained by physical and social reality; as such, they provide a window into sexual motivations that guide cognitions and behavior. Predictions of sex differences in fantasy contents based on evolutionary theory have been confirmed by many studies. Women are more likely than men to fantasize about sex with the current partner, and less likely than men to fantasize about group sex, sex with strangers, extradyadic relationships, and sex with (legally) much younger partners. This is interpreted as fantasies reflecting sex-differentiated mating strategies. However, a substantial proportion of women report fantasies of group sex, sex with unknown men, and sex with men other than their current partner. This suggests that a certain degree of sperm competition has occurred in human evolutionary history, which is corroborated by the relative size of men’s testes in comparison with other primates. Generally (and against expectations), women do not fantasize more about sex with much older partners and famous people. Fantasies involving sexual aggression are very common. Men fantasize more than women about forcing someone to have sex. Some studies report that women fantasize more about being forced to have sex, but others have failed to find this sex differences. Still, more women than men report that the fantasy of being forced to have sex is among their favorites. These fantasies are typically very sexually arousing, but they may challenge evolutionary explanations and the notion of fantasies revealing motivations, as rape is reported to be traumatic and revolting by victims. Several explanations are discussed. Rape fantasies might facilitate intercourse and sexual pleasure in circumstances of psychological ambivalence, when the environment is safe. In women, evidence of a relationship between sexual fantasies and sexual satisfaction is mixed. Sexual satisfaction is unrelated to female coital fantasies and to male fantasies, in general. Many variables that may cause fantasy-related dissatisfaction are discussed; these include fantasies provoking guilt feelings, preference for arousal solely induced by sensory and emotional stimulation, fantasies being used as escapes from relationship problems and other stressors of reality, and lack of adequate sleep leading to greater fantasy-induced arousal.

Relative infrequency of males providing oral sex to the girls in preindustrial and non-Western samples

Men’s Provisioning of Oral Sex, from Part II - Copulatory Adaptations. Gavin Vance. In The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Sexual Psychology, pp 271-293, June 2022. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108943543.014

Summary: Men sometimes engage in noncopulatory sexual behaviors, such as cunnilingus and other kinds of sexual foreplay. Men involved in long-term romantic relationships, in particular, tend to provision their partners with oral sex. Potential adaptive functions of cunnilingus in humans are discussed with a focus on the hypothesis that men use oral sex provisioning as part of a general benefit-provisioning, long-term mating strategy. Other potential adaptive functions are also considered, including the infidelity detection hypothesis and several hypotheses concerning sperm competition adaptations. Some research has proposed the possibility that men may use oral sex as a form of infidelity detection, wherein they might be able to smell or taste the semen of rival males in their partner’s vagina. Other research has posited that men might perform cunnilingus in order to induce orgasm in their partners, thereby increasing the amount of sperm retained in her reproductive tract after ejaculation. Still others have suggested that men might perform cunnilingus to increase their own arousal, thus increasing their subsequent ejaculate volume. These adaptive perspectives are couched within the wider literature on oral sex, which includes data regarding the frequency of oral sex in adolescent, preindustrial and non-Western samples, as well as women’s desire for receiving oral sex. Regarding the relative infrequency of cunnilingus in preindustrial and non-Western samples, in particular, men’s provisioning of oral sex is considered as potentially being a part of an evolved cognition for benefit-provisioning mate retention in general, rather than oral sex itself serving a specific adaptive function. Specifically, oral sex may be one type of sexual favor that men, especially those in Western cultures, sometimes provide to their long-term partners. Additional data regarding the increased sexual and relationship satisfaction in women who engage in a wider variety of sexual practices and who more frequently experience orgasm further supports the mate retention hypothesis of men’s provisioning of oral sex. Nevertheless, the available literature investigating these potential adaptive functions is currently insufficient to draw any decisive conclusions. Finally, gaps in the current literature and suggestions for future research that may help determine the evolved nature of men’s oral sex provisioning are discussed.

The apparent similarity between authenticity and honesty has obscured the tension between the two constructs; but honesty can decrease authenticity and dishonesty can increase authenticity

Yours Truly: On the Complex Relationship Between Authenticity and Honesty. Erica R. Bailey, Sheena S. Iyengar. Current Opinion in Psychology, July 8 2022, 101419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101419

Abstract: Authenticity is defined as being true to yourself, but does being true to yourself always mean being truthful? The apparent similarity between authenticity and honesty has obscured directly scrutinizing possible tension between the two constructs. In the current paper, we review recent research which reveals their orthogonality, highlighting how honesty can decrease authenticity and dishonesty can increase authenticity. In addition, we delineate between honesty with the self and self-rated authenticity, as well as honesty with others and perceived authenticity. Finally, we propose the importance of coherence and morality which describe when honesty will serve (or harm) authenticity both intra- and interpersonally, illuminating avenues for future research.

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People reliably report that their “true self”, the often-cited source of authenticity, is more moral and generally better than the true selves of others.